AEGiS-PRn: The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium: HIV System Advocates for Improved Medical Care for People Living With HIV/AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium: HIV System Advocates for Improved Medical Care for People Living With HIV/AIDS

PR Newswire, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019 - Wednesday August 13, 1997 - 5:50 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 11, 1997, Larry Hochendoner, Executive Director of the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium, presented his testimony before the House Health and Human Services Committee at a hearing that focused on special needs populations and managed care. The purpose of the testimony was to "fulfill the Consortium's even greater responsibility -- that of advocating for, and with, the people living with HIV/AIDS, in our area and those who serve them..." expressed Hochendoner. In his testimony, Hochendoner discussed the complications many PWAs are faced with because of the mandatory Health Choices enrollment that was put forth this spring. The emphasis of the testimony was to stress to Legislators that they must "...take on responsibility for instituting the oversight that this program so badly needs." Hochendoner asked that the following four critical areas be addressed immediately:

1) Rate-based capitation payments and enhanced capitation rates must be developed.

2) The Department of Public Welfare and its contracted HMOs must be compelled to meet the terms of the federal HCFA waiver with regard to provision of geographically accessible and linguistically competent care.

3) Condition-specific quality assurance procedures and performance measures must be implemented to ensure that appropriate levels of care are being provided to individuals with special needs.

4) The Department's failure to link performance and financial incentives in any way must also be corrected.

Mr. Yoshiaki Yamasaki, a staff member of the Philadelphia EMA HIV Commission, the Title I HIV Planning Council, reiterated these points in his testimony and stressed the need for culturally and linguistically competent services through Health Choices. "To date, the Health Choices system has been ineffective in complying with the regulations that they are required to follow with regard to cultural and linguistical competency. After a year of `working with the community' the system is failing miserably at serving anyone speaking a language other than English."

In closing, Hochendoner expressed that "...Right now Health Choices constitutes neither an improvement in care at the consumer level nor a realistic cost savings to the tax payer and that this situation cannot be expected to change without dramatically increased oversight and close attention to the existing and burgeoning problems that now exist."

If you are interested in a full copy of Mr. Hochendoner's testimony, contact Michele Porreca at the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium at 215-985-6200.

SOURCE: Philadelphia AIDS Consortium

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